WAMPUM SNAKE

Date1801

After work by Mark Catesby 1683 - 1749

Engraver James Heath (1757-1834)

Publisher George Shaw (1751-1813)

OriginEngland, London

MediumHand-colored line engraving on wove paper

DimensionsOverall: 4 13/16 × 7 3/4in. (12.2 × 19.7cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1992-42

DescriptionTitle at upper margin reads" "WAMPUM SNAKE."
On the right: "120."
Lower margin reads: "Heath sculp./ 1801. Jan.y 2 London Published by G. Kearsley Fleet Street.
Label TextGeorge Shaw (1751-1813) was one of the leading lights of natural history in England about the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1788, he was a founder member of the Linnean Society and in the following year was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.

Print of gracefully coiled bluish-colored snake with detail of head at upper right. Design is a reversed and reduced version of Mark Catesby's "Wampum Snake" from the Natural History of Carolina, Florida and Bahama Islands.ProvenanceBefore 1992, Grey Heron Antiques (Atlanta, GA); 1992-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).